TMC: BJP will have to pay the price for spreading hatred against Bengalis
Kolkata: On a day the Trinamool Congress (TMC) warned that the BJP would have to pay the price for spreading hatred against Bengalis, it also claimed that 2,476 Bengali migrant workers had returned to Bengal after facing harassment in BJP-ruled states.
The TMC said the Bengal government had rescued all the 2,476 workers and ensured their safe return, with 168 coming back from Maharashtra and 793 from Haryana, among others, and promised full support to them.
“The exodus highlights what TMC describes as targeted persecution of Bengali-speaking communities across India, especially where either the BJP or the NDA allies are in power,” TMC said in a press statement.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has pledged jobs, social security and education for the children of returning workers, ensuring a safe and secure future for them in Bengal. The scale of violence that drove these workers home reveals a disturbing pattern across BJP-ruled States.
Among the 168 workers who returned from Maharashtra is the tragic case of Abu Bakkar Mandal, a 33-year-old migrant from Baduria, North 24-Parganas, whose dismembered body was discovered in a sack. The brutal murder has been linked to anti-Bengali sentiment, pointing to a broader climate of hostility that has made fellow workers fear for their safety, TMC claimed.
The situation in Haryana, which accounts for the largest exodus with 793 returning workers, presents an equally alarming picture of State-sanctioned brutality. Sabbir Alam, a migrant from Bijubhita, North Dinajpur, returned home with both legs broken after allegedly being tortured by police who accused him of being a “Bangladeshi infiltrator.”
His case exemplifies the dangerous targeting of Bengali-speaking migrants by law enforcement in BJP-ruled states, where linguistic identity has become grounds for violence and abuse, TMC further pointed out.
“Beyond the horror stories from Haryana (793) and Maharashtra (168), massive evacuations continue from Odisha (361), Delhi (108), Uttar Pradesh (68), Rajasthan (45), Gujarat (37), and Assam (10). Even the BJP allies have blood on their hands, with Bengal’s workers fleeing the persecution machinery in Bihar (26) and Andhra Pradesh (14),” reads the press statement.
TMC also alleged that under the guise of Special Intensive Revision, lakhs of genuine voters are being arbitrarily struck off the rolls in Bihar. TMC MPs were taking the fight head-on in Parliament, exposing BJP’s desperate attempt to rig the system and bulldoze democracy. “This is the true face of the BANGLA-BIRODHI BJP, a regime that humiliates, harasses, and uproots Bengalis from their livelihoods,” TMC alleged.
